First, kudos to the TimesDispatch for being the first media outlet I’ve seen actually run the story. But a wag of the finger to them for putting all the allegedly illegal actions of the ATF at the bottom of the story without mentioning that it was, you know, potentially illegal. Some snippets:

The organizer of an August gun show at Richmond Raceway Complex told a House panel that a large team of federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and city, state and county police patrolled the two-day show, harassing law-abiding gun buyers while looking for illicit gun sales.

Annette Gelles of Showmasters, the organizer, told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime that agents’ aggressive tactics unnerved some attendees, and the visible presence drove away other customers.

Now would be the part where I would have addressed what the ATF did but that’s just me. More:

ATF director Carl J. Truscott defended his agency’s operations in a letter to the committee.

From 2004 to 2005, four homicides in Richmond were linked to guns sold at shows, he wrote. Agents patrolled eight shows during the period, leading to more than 30 arrests for gun crimes, including lying on background check forms and “straw purchases” — buying a gun for someone else.

The justification comes first. More:

James Lalime, a gun dealer from Colonial Heights who testified yesterday, said he was interrogated at length by two ATF agents because he was considering purchasing some guns.

Pretty big-brothery, but not the illegal part. More:

Suzanne McComas, a private investigator hired by the National Rifle Association to look into the allegations of harassment, said officers targeted minorities.

“Anyone who was a minority, they picked up their trail and followed them through the show. . . . It was ridiculous,” she told lawmakers.

Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., told McComas that he found the racial allegations questionable.

“I’m not saying that I disbelieve you, but I’m shocked that they could be that stupid. It’s almost difficult to believe,” he said.

The racist angle, but still not the illegal stuff. Still more:

In some cases, officers followed gun buyers from the show or went to their homes to confirm addresses listed on background check forms, the witnesses said.

In his letter to the committee, Truscott defended “residence checks” as “an important and useful tool to ensure the lawfulness of firearms transactions and to prevent straw purchases.”

There it is. One little blurb with no substance. The residency checks are illegal. Also, there are allegations that the agents were telling neighbors of buyers that they were buying guns. More detail on that here and here.

Posted in uncategorized on February 17th, 2006 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |